Quotes by Sharon Salzberg

How we traverse the space between us when conflict arises has a profound effect on the health and longevity of our relationships.

A particularly difficult line to navigate is the one between fear and love, especially for parents, who want more than anything to protect their children from suffering.

The paradigm for our relationships is formed from our earliest experiences and is actually hardwired into our neurological and emotional network.

Letting go of the belief that we’re powerless to help relieve our own suffering enhances our ability not only to heal but also to genuinely love and receive the love of others.

The key in letting go is practice. Each time we let go, we disentangle ourselves from our expectations and begin to experience things as they are.

Mindfulness won’t ensure you’ll win an argument with your sister. Mindfulness won’t enable you to bypass your feelings of anger or hurt either. But it may help you see the conflict in a new way, one that allows you to break through old patterns.

We learn from conflicts only when we are willing to do so.

To truly love ourselves, we must challenge our beliefs that we need to be different or better.

As soon as we ask whether or not a story is true in the present moment, we empower ourselves to re-frame it.

Maybe what we really need is to change our relationship to what is, to see who we are with the strength of a generous spirit & a wise heart.

Until we begin to question our basic assumptions about ourselves and view them as fluid, not fixed, it’s easy to repeat established patterns and, out of habit, reenact old stories that limit our ability to live and love ourselves with an open heart.

Living in a story of a limited self—to any degree—is not love.

Identifying the source of our personal narratives helps us to release its negative aspects and re-frame it in ways that promote wholeness.

Cultivating loving kindness for ourselves is the foundation of real love for our friends and family, for new people we encounter in our daily lives, for all beings and for life itself.

When we experience inner impoverishment, love for another too easily becomes hunger: for reassurance, for acclaim, for affirmation of our worth.

Love is a living capacity within us that is always present, even when we don’t sense it.

Sanskrit has different words to describe love for a brother or sister, love for a teacher, love for a partner, love for one’s friends, love of nature, and so on. English has only one word, which leads to never-ending confusion.

When our focus is on seeking, perfecting, or clinging to romance, the charge is often generated by instability, rather than by an authentic connection with another person.

Real Love may run on a lower voltage, but it’s also more grounded & sustainable.

From our first breath to our last, we’re presented again and again with the opportunity to experience deep, lasting, and trans-formative connection with other beings: to love them and be loved by them; to show them our true natures and to recognize theirs.